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Reporter 9/11/03

Hana Askren |It's 4:30 on June 19, 2003, a muggy day in Indianapolis. Wrestlers are "cutting weight" (that is, "dehydrating themselves") in various ways in a ballroom in the Adam's Mark Hotel, site of the 2003 U.S.A. World Team Trials. Some pedal away on stationary bikes, wearing three sweatshirts with the hoods pulled down low over the forehead; some sit on benches in their underwear in the 37-degree sauna, elbows on their knees and head in their hands. They slap each other's backs and massage each other to induce sweating. Some of them will lose 10 percent of their body weight (in water) by weigh-in time of 5:00 sharp. At that time, all wrestlers must weigh at or below the limit for their weight category.

The World Team Trials begin the next morning, and the wrestlers hope to gain back all they lose today throughout the night. By maintaining a natural weight above the limit for their weight category and "cutting" down to the limit, they can keep a few added pounds of muscle, making them stronger than anyone who stayed strictly below the limit.

All carry a smouldering sulk in their glazed eyes. It is there even as they joke and chat with their teammates, and it represents the fine line wrestlers walk between humility and pride. Without the humility, they would not be able to endure the physical punishment of training or the eventual inevitability of losing; without the pride and desire to win, they would have no drive. Wrestling entails an internal struggle alongside the external one, leading to a razor-sharp edge between extremes of tension and relaxation, where pure instinct drives every action.

Each person's struggle and their response to it shows plainly on their game face, which they don at weigh-ins and do not remove until after the tournament. These faces can reflect all the turbulence of competition; they can also reflect the serenity of pure focus. Some faces are fierce and some are calm. Some wrestlers grimace as they grapple, and some stare blankly ahead. Every face is its own unique combination of desire and doubt, thought and emotion, confidence and anxiety. Competitors don't think about their game faces or practice them in the mirror; they just put them on. Intense, unmediated and instinctive, they are raw sketches of struggle.

A wrestler wears her singlet and her wrestling shoes onto the mat. The singlet is one piece, made of skin-tight lycra and the shoes are soft and flexible, but with rubber soles. Shoelaces must be covered or taped so that they do not come untied during the match (before this rule was created, wrestlers would stall for time by tying their shoelaces). Long hair must be tied back with a rubber band containing no metal; many girls with long hair braid their hair into tiny braids. Wrestlers with poor vision must wear contact lenses or wrestle blind.

The U.S.A. World Team Trials is one of the top elite events in American wrestling, attracting thousands of spectators every year. In each weight category, those who placed in the top eight at the U.S. National Open tournament wrestle each other for the number one spot, or for a place on the U.S. National Team (which takes those who rank firstthrough third). America's best wrestlers, including world champions and Olympians, compete at this event.

I was lucky enough to attend this tournament not as a spectator, but as a participant. A spectator would miss details like the sound of a winded wrestler gasping for air; she might not hear the referee's flat tone of voice as he says, "Zone blue," warning a wrestler to stay in bounds; and she certainly would not catch the glint in the eyes of fellow competitors. A spectator would constantly strain to see the competitors' faces, the focal points of their effort. As a participant, I was privy to these faces -- some of them played out their expressions inches from my own.

One of my opponents had beaten me easily at a previous tournament. When our match at the World Team Trials began, her face was calm and confident, her waist-length hair meticulously braided and looped in a clean bun. But as it became clear to her that it would not be an easy match, a hint of frustration and even fear crept into her expression. The corners of her mouth turned down, but even as she lost the match, her disappointment carried a note of indignation.

We faced each other again at the end of the tournament. Her face showed uncertainty and a shaky confidence. Her hair had been pulled out of its neat bun and runaway braids hung by her ears. Her anxiety allowed me to beat her again, and this time the indignation did not show through the dejection.

Another of my opponents never showed emotion. The beautiful mask of serenity that she wore as she beat me remained on her face throughout the tournament. Even as she was taken down, even as she lost a match to another opponent, her expression never changed.

One young wrestler had lost to me by a single point in a difficult match at a previous tournament. Her face shone with childlike disbelief at the end of our match as her hand was raised -- this time she was the victor.

In all of my matches, I can imagine my own grimace as I have seen it on videotape: with bared teeth and slitted eyes, I could almost be smiling.

The spectators miss the details of weigh-ins, the stomach butterflies and the muscles that feel like jelly. They might see some wrestlers' expressions from afar or on the big screen. But the intensity of the expression is incomparable to when the face belongs to your opponent on the mat.

There's another face I would have missed as a spectator. After the match, a small blonde girl approached me. She held an event programme and a permanent marker. "Will you sign my program?" she asked. I was surprised, but signed my name with the generic message, "Be a champion!" Perhaps the best expression of the whole tournament was the look of shy thanks on that little girl's face.

After placing sixth at the World Team Trials, Hana Askren attended three training camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. She intends to compete at the Olympic trials in May 2004. A recent graduate of McGill, she will be assistant coach for McGill's wrestling team this fall, as well as lab assistant for Islamic Studies professor Michelle Hartman.

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Clansmen International set for Nov. 12-13 in Canada

11/10/2004
John Fuller/USA Wrestling

The Clansmen International Wrestling Tournament is a traditionally strong fall international tournament, which will be held at Simon Fraser Univ. in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, Nov. 12-13.

Most of Canada’s best men and women freestyle wrestlers compete in this annual competition, as well as other top athletes from around the world. It is the major fall international wrestling event on the Canadian schedule.

This tournament will be held under the direction of FILA’s new international wrestling rules. The rules were approved shortly before the 2004 Olympic Games and were effective for competitions following the Olympics.

A number of talented international wrestlers are expected in the tournament, led by a delegation from world power Russia. Among the Russian athletes expected to compete is 2003 World Champion Irbek Farniev, who is scheduled to compete up one weight class at 74 kg/163 lbs. in men’s freestyle competition.

Simon Fraser coach Mike Jones is also expecting a team from Nigeria to compete, as well as individuals from other nations. Muhammed Lawal (Stillwater, Okla./Gator WC) is expected to wrestle at 96 kg/211.5 lbs., up one weight class from where he placed third at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

The women’s event will include many of Canada’s top stars, as many of the nation’s top club programs and college teams will send their best wrestlers. Some of the top Canadian women expected include world placewinners Carol Huyhn, Erica Sharp and Emily Richardson, as well as many others.

Among the U.S. wrestlers who are expected include 2003 World bronze medalist Sally Roberts, who grew up in the Pacific Northwest in nearby Washington. U.S. college teams from Pacific Univ., Menlo College and Lassen College have also expressed an interest in competing this year.

TheMat.com will provide results of the Clansmen International as they are made available

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EDITORIAL: Observations of the new FILA Rules

11/9/2004
Ted Witulski/USA Wrestling

by Ted Witulski, USA Wrestling NCEP Manager

There isn’t much that I know about basketball. Honestly, I don’t enjoy the game at all. But from my limited understanding even a sport that has existed for just over a 100 years has had to stretch its legs by changing the rules.

I spoke with a friend that knows the game of basketball. And, apparently basketball went through two dramatic changes over the last 25 years or so. One was stopping stalling on the court by instituting the shot clock. The other was limiting the overall power that a gargantuan-sized seven footer could have on the game by just being tall. The solution for this was to put in a three-foot arc, so the little guys shoot from a distance for more points.

Though I’ve put very little effort into understanding these changes ,my friend made it clear that these two rules were probably the most important adaptations in rescuing the dying game from the abyss.

With the changes that basketball has made to better its sport, we come to the new rule changes for wrestling for the 2004-2008 quadrennium.

When the rule changes were announced they were almost universally panned by coaches and athletes alike. Many questioned FILA’s wisdom in once again twisting the spirit of wrestling into an unrecognizable mass.

FILA’s ultimate intention, of course, has been to create a simple version of wrestling that is readily understood by the uneducated wrestling masses and enticing with high action excitement.

The determination was to go to a “set” system similar to tennis. Win the best two out of three periods and the wrestler wins the match. An off-shoot of this was to dramatically reduce the length of the match. Instead of wrestling a minimum of six minutes now wrestlers can wrestle a complete match in four minutes by winning the first two periods. Another important thing to remember is that there is no longer a need to score three points to terminate the match.

The wrestlers and coaches had little problem adjusting to this new part of the sport this past weekend at the Sunkist Tournament. In fact, even a little positive feedback was voiced. Some people stated that periods, acting as mini bouts, required spectators to stay more in tune to what was happening, since a big lead was only good for a period victory.

Another important break from the past rules was the creation of a new way to score, the push-out. The push-out borrowed from the Japanese style of wrestling, awards a wrestler for forcing their opponent off of the mat. In the past, the pushing an opponent out could result in a caution and one score for fleeing, which appeared to be too subjective of a call to explain to the fans just being introduced to the sport.

FILA in turn moved to an absolutist interpretation - if you touch the protection area, then the opponent gains a point.

Going into the tournament ,many people wondered about the need for the change. After all, wrestling is supposed to be about technique enacted on an opponent, and just pushing doesn’t always fit the bill. Many people cited the obvious what-if. What if an opponent under attack hops into the air and the attacking wrestler while driving the jumper from the mat steps out first?

In the new absolutist rule, the attacking wrestler is penalized for getting his feet wet before the opponent that was clearly beaten by technique.

The absolutist position did not last long. After the first session of the first day, the referees and coaches were pulled together and told that an attacking wrestler would be given the point in most out of bounds cases. Once this adjustment was made even the newest spectator could see that a wrestler who was in control still deserved the point as he drove his opponent into the protection zone.

The biggest area of concern left for FILA to address, undoubtedly is a combination of the push-out rule and awarding of a period to the leading wrestler. Wrestling has always struggled with what to do in case of a tie. We aren’t patient enough to wait out the first score. No one is a fan of a 20-minute yawn-fest that can be produced as neither wrestler takes a risk.

FILA’s new determination places heavy emphasis on the first score of a period. A wrestler who scores first is in the driver seat, in a short two-minute period especially. Once a wrestler scores one point, essentially he/she can focus on defense and kill the clock. Even if the opponent ties a bout at 1-1, the wrestler with the first score wins the period---no clinch necessary.

While this makes the rules clear, there still remains a problem that probably needs to be addressed by FILA. The sport of wrestling should always place emphasis on technique. It is done of course for spectacular throws like a five-point high amplitude maneuver, so it seems to make sense that technical scoring should always be rewarded.

Presently, the new rules don’t do this entirely.

Take this scenario. A wrestler begins the period by scoring on a push-out, essentially manhandling the opponent and forcing them off the mat with a physical brawl. Although this is still exciting and readily understood, it places the second wrestler at a disadvantage by giving up the first score in the shortened period.

A wrestler after giving up the first push-out point could come back and hit the most perfect controlled takedown and still lose the period under the present system. A good common sense adjustment would probably be to change a one-point control takedown into a two point maneuver. Thereby, a wrestler who executes a solid takedown in bounds could usurp the power of the push-out score.

The scoring in this system would look like this:

* 1 point for push-outs and passivity points
* 2 points for takedowns of control with no exposure completed in bounds
* 3 points for takedowns of exposure taking an opponent from their feet to their back.
* Awarding of the period for any grand amplitude technique

The essence of wrestling should give emphasis to technical scoring and creating a two-point takedown will elevate the importance of the technical score.

Another substantial change is the break from no forced par-terre. In the past, a passive wrestler could be placed in the down position and forced to defend on the mat.

Over the weekend and with more than a little confusion the mat referee was told to ask for confirmation of passivity calls. When a mat referee would ask for and receive confirmation then the opponent would receive one point.

The mat referee was not required to stop the bout, so it was common for a wrestler to not realize that they gave a point as they wrestled from their feet. This was evident in one of Eric Larkin’s bouts, where he defended an underhook by shooting a fireman’s. A passive point was called for and confirmed.

The passive definition has not changed, but now it appears it will be enforced more readily with the penalty of points occurring more often. Wrestlers and coaches should pay considerable attention to what actions referees view as passive such as blocking with the head or attempting multiple slip throws.

When mat wrestling did occur at the beginning of the tournament any time that a competitor touched out of bounds a point would be awarded. After the first round of wrestling this was changed so that the top wrestler did not have to worry about touching out of bounds. If the top wrestler blatantly pushed his opponent out in par-terre then a point was not given. However, if the top wrestler initiated a scramble that forced the bottom wrestler out of bounds, then a point was given.

This rule at times seemed subjective. The adjustment mid-way through the tournament was for the best and very few people seemed troubled by it.

Finally, the change to the leg clinch for freestyle received a lot of attention prior to the Sunkist Kids International Tournament. Whether or not both people would lock was a big part of the discussion. After the Olympics , it appeared FILA might have accepted this approach. But on Saturday morning during the rules discussion on the mat, the clinch was revealed. Only one wrestler would take a lock from their feet in a high-c position with the inside arm locking on their own wrist.

Because of the new push-out rule and the giving of passivity points, the leg clinch had virtually no effect on the tournament. There was probably less than 10 leg clinches during the weekend, and it was pretty much a guarantee that the person that locked would score. If it comes to a leg clinch, count on the person locking first to win the period.

Overall, the change in match rules seemed to be understandable. Techniques such as the multiple laces and multiple guts were fun to see on the mat again. Awarding victors for periods has definitely revamped the nature of the mat.

It probably will be years before if we know if these rules will stick. And who knows? Twenty-five years from now, maybe wrestling fans will point to these changes the way basketball people point to the shot clock and three-point arc.

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